The first day of Spring is just around the corner, and with it comes the annual ritual of airing, dusting, and decluttering our homes. While you’re in cleaning mode, why not devote a few minutes to streamlining your blog, too? (Note: if you live south of the Equator, these tips are still valid!)

This isn’t just about appearances (though those matter), but also about traffic — a clean, attractive, easy-to-navigate site is one readers are more likely to visit again. Here are five things you can do in the next ten minutes to see immediate results.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona Duit! And, if you don’t speak Irish, Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! March 17th is a public holiday in Ireland, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Montserrat that commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Today, we’re showcasing Irish blogs and bloggers as a way to join in the fun.

The self-proclaimed “aging freak” at Renaissance Mathematicus writes about the history, philosophy, and mythology of science in the early modern period (roughly the fifteeth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries) — and focuses on the mythology of science in particular, exposing and exploding these myths. For a taste, consider the recentposts on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s remake of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

The blogchild of witty science writer Thea Beckman, Why — Because Scienceis a refreshing space for science writing. Thea, who has a background in atmospheric science, injects humor and personality in her posts — take a look at “The Sky Is Only Sometimes Blue,” in which she illustrates a discussion of light, energy and sound…

Every week, Automatticians — the people behind WordPress.com — participate in conferences, WordCamps, and other community events around the world. Today, let’s hear from Happiness Engineer Karim Osman, who just returned from WebCoast, in Gothenburg, Sweden. WebCoast is a WordPress.com-sponsored conference that focuses on online communication and web development.

After a three-hour train ride, I finally arrived in Sweden’s second-largest city: Gothenburg. This was my first time there, and my fellow Happiness Engineer Fabiana Simões showed me around town. It’s a lovely city with great sights, amazing architecture, and cozy cafes — the perfect place for a conference.

The nicest thing about WebCoast is that it’s a three-day, unconference-style event. “Unconference” means that the content is organized and created by the conference attendees: there was a gridded board where speakers booked a slot for their talk, workshop, or discussion session. Then others decided which sessions they’d like to attend.

‘Antoinette Capasso-Backdahl has invited you to Academia.edu, a global network of over 7,906,346 researchers. After you sign up, you’ll be able to share your papers, see analytics on your profile and papers, follow other people in your field, and more.

ACORNholio strikes again? How do we protect Information Security, control UNIONS & provide EVIDENCED BASED OUTCOMES?

If you failed to read HR3200 like our illiterate Congress… if you do not know that it was not designed to solve our health care problems but that it is nothing short of outsourcing our jobs and privacy to the international community…

Why did any contract go to ACORN when we have fully capable people with INFORMATION SECURITY and SYSTEMS DESIGN training at each state?

Is this entrapment by having folks commit fraud on their applications?

If we are hiring felons to encourage felonious activity to ensnare folks into prison that is entrapment.

I saw the C-Span hearings, their focus was on prosecuting applicants who lied on their insurance apps.

Don’t tell me ACORN and ACORN International is running the prison system. That would be way too TWILIGHT ZONE for me!

ACORN was only 35,000 members large pre Kartina. Post Katrina, a whopping 450,000 within the first year. Rathke’s brother was in trouble for absconding funds, but that didn’t help New Orleans. Neither did ACORN when they formed ACORN International. Was their New Orleans on their list of priorities? Not so much!